Hairdressers, nail bars… where have all the shops gone?

08 February, 2019

• IN Essex Road, between the station and Islington Green, we have just had open the 20th hairdresser/barber. Add to this the four nail bars and a plethora of restaurants, bars and takeaways, and we have a street that is almost void of shops.

The Market Garden greengrocers in Essex Road closed on Christmas Eve – somewhere that was unique to Islington with people travelling far and wide to it – as the landlord wants to build flats and two retail outlets (a hairdressers and a nail bar perhaps?). Islington allowed this planning permission.

In Chapel Market, retail premises are being replaced by hairdressers/barbers and there are now nine there. In March, the world-famous Manze’s pie and mash shop closes after nearly a century. Islington Council, you should have stepped in and helped preserve this part of our history.

Nowadays, to shop with a selection of different outlets I have to go outside the area where I live. Shop local? Support your local shop? With this part of Islington being the haircutting, nail polishing, restaurant capital of London, all contained in just over a square mile?